Singapore’s education system has a goal of nurturing well-rounded students who excel beyond the academic curriculum. Students often have various commitments like co-curricular activities, volunteering sessions and often partake in school and community events as part of their student life. Juggling multiple commitments is undeniably tough, and it often seems there is insufficient time to accomplish all the tasks.
Having proper time management habits can go a long way in helping you achieve your goals. As such, we will explain 10 strategies that students like you can employ to regain control of your time and maximise your usage of it.
Right after you wake up, choose one specific task that you wish to accomplish that day, setting a clear priority for yourself. This prevents analysis paralysis from occurring, and you are less inclined to toggle between multiple tasks without getting anything done.
Set aside a specific period of time to accomplish the task(s) that you have set for yourself. Block out any other activities and commitments on your schedule and focus on completing that one task only for that few minutes/hours or so. You will be more inclined to see the task to completion this way.
If you are able to take Time Blocking further, try to maximise your time by writing out a schedule for your day/week. Account for constant commitments like school/CCA/tuition and fill in the rest of the time with your other tasks. Remember to leave occasional gaps of time for breaks and to act as a buffer in case there are last minute things that pop up.
To-Do lists are extremely handy – they prevent you from forgetting tasks and ideas and establish an organised system where your thoughts and goals are clearly listed out for yourself. Nowadays, there are various online applications that allow you to keep your digital lists on the go, but you can always stick to the traditional sticky notes!
Increasing your productivity as a student will help you accomplish more in the long run. If you give yourself 2 days to complete an English Comprehension paper, you are likely to end up taking the full 2 days duration to do it, as compared to setting a 1 hour 50 minutes timer which pushes you to get the task done. This is Parkinson’s Law, which states that: work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. Give yourself personal artificial deadlines that are realistic, and try your best to meet them.
As a student, your time is limited, but you must realise that you are the only one always fully in control of it. If your mind is set on completing a particular task, you have to make it a priority and have the drive to see it to completion, instead of finding excuses or being distracted. Spending your 30 minutes recess break devising an essay plan for the 2021 O-Level Essay Question: “Describe the sights and sounds of a shopping mall. Remember to describe the people too.” will allow you to keep ahead of your revision, as compared to spending that time scrolling YouTube shorts.
You might have multiple opportunities thrown at you, but regrettably do not have sufficient time. Learn how to say ‘No’ to things that you have to think twice about or reconsider, and only take on activities that you truly feel passionate about, or those with superseding benefits.
If you find it difficult to complete the tasks on your schedule, you should conduct a time audit to determine how exactly you have spent your time, logging how you have spent every hour and seeing whether you need to redirect your time and efforts to other more important goals.
If you need someone else to hold you accountable for your studies and revision, you could always turn to peers as study buddies. Remind one another about project deadlines, upcoming examinations and you could even pool resources while helping each other out to maximise your revision effectiveness. Everyone has different strengths, and leveraging on these strengths can help you achieve more within a single study session. For instance, you could exchange essays that you have done, as you could have attempted different genres of essays.
Note: For O level English essay writing tips, remember to check out our other blog posts!
At the end of the day, even if you have not checked off every item on your to-do list, refrain from getting anxious and stressed out about it. Rather, if we adopt a positive growth mindset and learn to be satisfied with what we have completed, we are more likely to perform better the next day.
English is a compulsory subject which all students must undertake. However, mastering the English language is not something which happens overnight – it takes consistent practice and effort to learn the nuances of the language. Students must read more and practice writing to gradually improve. Cramming for a language subject nearer to the exams is an impossible feat. After all, Rome was not built in a day! Attaining such a skill will have positive implications for not only your child’s education in school, but also employment prospects in future.
Start by seeking recommendations from family and friends. Next, research online and read the reviews of tuition centres to find suitable candidates. A good idea is to drop by the tuition centre and let your child participate in a trial lesson to find a good tutor.
An English tutor’s role is to help your child reach their full potential in mastering the English language. Since children have varying academic skills and capabilities, it is important that the tutor is able to identify the child’s strengths and weaknesses and provide them with tailored assistance.
A tutor should have a discerning eye for strengths and weaknesses of the student, patience to deal with different students, the requisite qualifications and experience, and they should be up to date on the relevant changes in the Singaporean English syllabus.
Mastering English involves understanding basic rules like grammar and sentence structure, as well as developing more advanced skills such as inference and synthesis, which are needed for tackling more complex exercises as the student progresses.
